GSAT-10 is in good health, says ISRO

Bangalore: The health checks on various subsystems of the GSAT-10, which was launched early on Saturday onboard Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana, has found all parameters satisfactory and the satellite is in good health.

Bangalore-headquartered ISRO said its Master Control Facility (MCF) in Hassan in Karnataka took over the command and control of the GSAT-10 immediately after the injection. "Preliminary health checks on the various subsystems of the satellite, namely, Power, Thermal, Command, Sensors, Controls, etc, were performed and all the parameters were found satisfactory. Following this, the satellite was oriented towards the Earth and the Sun using the onboard propulsion system. The satellite is in good health", it said in a statement.

GSAT-10 was launched early on Saturday onboard Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana.

The launch of ISRO's 101st space mission, GSAT-10 satellite, has been a success, the space agency said. After a smooth countdown lasting 11 hours and 30 minutes, the Ariane-5 launch vehicle lifted off right on schedule at the opening of the launch window at 0248 hrs IST on Saturday. After a flight of 30 minutes and 45 seconds, GSAT-10 was injected into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), very close to the intended one.

In the coming five days, orbit raising manoeuvres will be performed to place the satellite in the Geostationary Orbit with required inclination with reference to the equator. The satellite will be moved to the Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) by using the satellite propulsion system in a three step approach.

After the completion of orbit raising operations, the two solar panels and both the dual gridded antenna reflectors of GSAT-10 will be deployed for further tests and operations. It is planned to experimentally turn on the communication payloads in the second week of October.

After the successful completion of all in-orbit tests, GSAT-10 will be ready for operational use by November. GSAT-10 will be positioned at 83 deg East orbital location along with INSAT-4A and GSAT-12.